Derrick Hickman earned a BFA in Illustration from The Columbus College of Art and Design, and later a BFA in Art Education from Ohio University. 

Hickman uses images of vintage children’s toys to explore memory and our desire to attach meaning to these symbols of idealized family fun.  Brand new, used or stolen, these iconic playthings found their way into most homes and became reliquaries of childhood hope and trauma.  Raised in a home that teetered on the edge, economically and emotionally, the artist developed mechanisms for hiding and adapting, some advantageous and others destructive, and explores these mechanisms in his work.  Alongside the toys, he places elements of advertising, childlike scribbles and personal writings.  By cropping and partially obscuring the text, the viewer can never be sure if they are being directed to or misled by their feelings of connection with the imagery.